Atlanta part 4: Will the Thrashers be Gone With The Wind?

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Why exactly would the Thrashers owners give the NHL a $45 million tip for selling their team.

 

[roccerfeller]

Oh joy, more pointless speculation.

You will be right at home in this friend, guy.

Anyways, I was responding to your theory that True North approached ASG around a year ago, which is not true.

And if it were true, then the fact that ASG forgot about it would be highly illegal.

I'm no lawyer, but if True North reveals that they did make an offer for the Thrashers before Belkin was bought out, then could Belkin sue ASG again and get more money?

FWIW, TNSE has been in contact with the NHL about the possibility of teams since around the time the MTS Centre was built (2004)

Mark Chipman, publicly, has never been extremely positive about NHL back to Winnipeg, if anything he has been cautious, (just youtube his CBC interviews, he has some from 2008) -- He is very proud of his AHL brand, and even defended it in the Winnipeg Free Press by writing a column against some self-righteous Winnipegger who dissed the Moose, AHL, and called it a "bush" league, saying Winnipeg deserved better. The guy actually took the time to write (very well written I may add) a response to him.

That said, behind the scenes, TNSE has been seriously looking at the possibility of NHL in Winnipeg. A lot of things had to happen, and Mark Chipman never once said "NHL will be back in Winnipeg one day for certain!"

Re: that theory, who knows, but one thing for certain is there is (and has been) a lot of smoke surrounding Winnipeg/Thashers rumors for some time. Would it be highly illegal? Who knows. Its tough to say without all the documents present.

Gary Lawless's recent article (despite what anyone personally thinks of the guy) does raise some strong eyebrows. Whether or not it is accurate, it definitely fits in with what a Moose player manager recently said to my sister... (as much as he could say, anyways...he stopped short when he said "my job is at stake here")

 

[blues10]

Why exactly would the Thrashers owners give the NHL a $45 million tip for selling their team.

The franchise sells for $145 million because the NHL likes to maintain franchise valuations and the $45 million is a relocation fee built into the sale price.

 

[Fugu]

Why exactly would the Thrashers owners give the NHL a $45 million tip for selling their team.

Because they need the NHL's approval to sell the team in a different market. They can only sell the rights to the Atlanta market.

 

[blues10]

FWIW, TNSE has been in contact with the NHL about the possibility of teams since around the time the MTS Centre was built (2004)

Mark Chipman, publicly, has never been extremely positive about NHL back to Winnipeg, if anything he has been cautious, (just youtube his CBC interviews, he has some from 2008) -- He is very proud of his AHL brand, and even defended it in the Winnipeg Free Press by writing a column against some self-righteous Winnipegger who dissed the Moose, AHL, and called it a "bush" league, saying Winnipeg deserved better. The guy actually took the time to write (very well written I may add) a response to him.

That said, behind the scenes, TNSE has been seriously looking at the possibility of NHL in Winnipeg. A lot of things had to happen, and Mark Chipman never once said "NHL will be back in Winnipeg one day for certain!"

Re: that theory, who knows, but one thing for certain is there is (and has been) a lot of smoke surrounding Winnipeg/Thashers rumors for some time. Would it be highly illegal? Who knows. Its tough to say without all the documents present. Gary Lawless's recent article (despite what anyone personally thinks of the guy) does raise some strong eyebrows. Whether or not it is accurate, it definitely fits in with what a Moose player manager recently said to my sister... (as much as he could say, anyways...he stopped short when he said "my job is at stake here")

I would expect all negotiations to have been done directly with the NHL regarding the sale of the Thrashers to TNSE very similar to the way the St.Louis situation/sale is being dealt with.

 

[borno87]

Why exactly would the Thrashers owners give the NHL a $45 million tip for selling their team.

They wouldn't. They would negotiate a $100-110M sale price, the NHL would insist on the $40-45M relocation fee to equalize the discrpency between franchise values in different markets in order to approve the relocation. This will please the BOG not only in the quick $1.5M payday, but also the sale price would widely be reported as the ASG price plus the relocation fee, a much higher figure in line with higher valued NHL franchise perpeteuating a strong franchises valuatuion marketplace the NHL.

 

[dj4aces]

The franchise sells for $145 million because the NHL likes to maintain franchise valuations and the $45 million is a relocation fee built into the sale price.

A $145M franchise sale, minus $45M (because the article makes this claim), doesn't even pay for the $125M loan AS took out from the NBA.

None of this makes sense. It's logically unbelievable.

 

[roccerfeller]

I would expect all negotiations to have been done directly with the NHL regarding the sale of the Thrashers to TNSE very similar to the way the St.Louis situation/sale is being dealt with.

And, true to TNSE's form, extremely tight lipped (unless that is what you were getting at )

 

[Finlandia WOAT]

FWIW, TNSE has been in contact with the NHL about the possibility of teams since around the time the MTS Centre was built (2004)


That said, behind the scenes, TNSE has been seriously looking at the possibility of NHL in Winnipeg. A lot of things had to happen, and Mark Chipman never once said "NHL will be back in Winnipeg one day for certain!"

Re: that theory, who knows, but one thing for certain is there is (and has been) a lot of smoke surrounding Winnipeg/Thashers rumors for some time. Would it be highly illegal? Who knows. Its tough to say without all the documents present.

Gary Lawless's recent article (despite what anyone personally thinks of the guy) does raise some strong eyebrows. Whether or not it is accurate, it definitely fits in with what a Moose player manager recently said to my sister... (as much as he could say, anyways...he stopped short when he said "my job is at stake here")

I think you missed my point, so please allow me to clarify.

Steven Belkin, a majority shareholder of ASG, decided that he did not like the way that the other 7 members were running the show, so he wanted out.

Belkin wanted X amount of money for his stake in the Thrashers, Hawks and Phillips Arena (around 30% if I recall correctly, a majority share). The other 7 wanted to pay him less than that (how much less exactly I am not entirely sure at the moment).

Since they could not resolve the issue, they went to court over the matter, during which, they were not allowed to negotiate with anyone about selling the franchise. This was due to the fact that it was unclear who owned what, and how much said what was actually worth.

Since all court documents were made public, and any information that could be used to help determine how much the entire shebang was worth (like how much True North offered for franchise) would have been reported, we know that True North did not approach ASG with aspirations to buy.

And it would be highly illegal, because it is in contempt of court, and could have a possibly huge effect on how much money Belkin received in his buyout.

I hope this clarifies what I was attempting to get at.

If anyone well learned in the drawn out case of ASG and Steven Belkin, please point out any errors that you may see in this rudimentary summary.

 

[dj4aces]

Since they could not resolve the issue, they went to court over the matter, during which, they were not allowed to negotiate with anyone about selling the franchise. This was due to the fact that it was unclear who owned what, and how much said what was actually worth.

It is amazingly sad how often this has to be brought up, because people would rather listen to speculation than the facts.

 

[blues10]

I think you missed my point, so please allow me to clarify.

Steven Belkin, a majority shareholder of ASG, decided that he did not like the way that the other 7 members were running the show, so he wanted out.

Belkin wanted X amount of money for his stake in the Thrashers, Hawks and Phillips Arena. The other 7 wanted to pay him less than that (how much less exactly I am not entirely sure at the moment).

Since they could not resolve the issue, they went to court over the matter, during which, they were not allowed to negotiate with anyone about selling the franchise. This was due to the fact that it was unclear who owned what, and how much said what was actually worth.

Since all court documents were made public, and any information that could be used to help determine how much the entire shebang was worth (like how much True North offered for franchise) would have been reported, we know that True North did not approach ASG with aspirations to buy.

And it would be highly illegal, because it is in contempt of court, and could have a possibly huge effect on how much money Belkin received in his buyout.

I hope this clarifies what I was attempting to get at.

If anyone well learned in the drawn out case of ASG and Steven Belkin, please point out any errors that you may see in this rudimentary summary.

Do you know if the NHL was permitted to negotiate on behalf of ASG regarding the sale of the Thrashers to any entity? I have a feeling that there is paper trail down at the NHL HQ in New York.

 

[AugustBurnsRed*]

If that's the case I'm getting an Enstrom jersey... not getting too pumped just yet though.

 

[Finlandia WOAT]

Do you know if the NHL was permitted to negotiate on behalf of ASG regarding the sale of the Thrashers to any entity? I have a feeling that there is paper trail down at the NHL HQ in New York.

The couldn't, because the entire reason that they went to court was to decide how much the Thrashers (and the Hawks and Phillips Arena) were worth.

How can you sell something when you are not entirely sure how much it is worth? How can you possible "negotiate" when you are missing that crucial detail?

 

[Jet]

How many times have we been around on this ferris wheel?

I wish Fugu would have stuck to his assertion that a new ATL thread not be started until something REAL happened.

I really feel for ATL fans here who have to go through this ******** AGAIN.

It reminds me of every week or so us in the TN thread have to 'educate' people as to why the NHL left Winnipeg in the first place, and how it has changed now.

For the love of god, save most of us here the headache and close the thread until there is something SUBSTANTIVE to talk about. All of this garbage could have been hashed out in the TNSE thread.

Seriously!

 

[blues10]

The couldn't, because the entire reason that they went to court was to decide how much the Thrashers (and the Hawks and Phillips Arena) were worth.

How can you sell something when you are not entirely sure how much it is worth? How can you possible "negotiate" when you are missing that crucial detail?

This is the NHL we're dealing with look at the way they operate.

 

[borno87]

@RealKyper
Told True North deal with #NHL already include contingency plan with #Thrashers in event last minute funds are found keeping #Coyotes in Pho”

He nailed the part about the MH bond deal being dead. Whiffed big time on the post Coyotes elimination speculation.

Take it FWIW

 

[Fugu]

How many times have we been around on this ferris wheel?

I wish Fugu would have stuck to his assertion that a new ATL thread not be started until something REAL happened.

I really feel for ATL fans here who have to go through this ******** AGAIN.

It reminds me of every week or so us in the TN thread have to 'educate' people as to why the NHL left Winnipeg in the first place, and how it has changed now.

For the love of god, save most of us here the headache and close the thread until there is something SUBSTANTIVE to talk about. All of this garbage could have been hashed out in the TNSE thread.

Seriously!

Relax. Dreger is considered a legitimate source. We'll keep the unsourced rumors out of it, and if nothing further develops, it will be closed. You think you're tired of these threads? Look at the names of the mods for this board. I think we're ready to use rocket launchers.

 

[Finlandia WOAT]

This is the NHL we're dealing with look at the way they operate.

If True North were willing to negotiate for the purchase of an NHL team with an entity that neither owns it nor can identify the actual owner nor can say what the value is, then I have a bridge in Brooklyn to sell them.

 

[blues10]

I don't know what to make of this but things appear to really be heating up. How long can the NHL contain the fire?

RealKyper Nick Kypreos
Told True North deal with #NHL already include contingency plan with #Thrashers in event last minute funds are found keeping #Coyotes in Pho

 

[blues10]

If True North were willing to negotiate for the purchase of an NHL team with an entity that neither owns it nor can identify the actual owner nor can say what the value is, then I have a bridge in Brooklyn to sell them.

I never questioned TN's business acumen but that of the NHL. Note that I used the word "entity" and never identified any prospective buyers.

 

[Fugu]

Okay, so far all I'm getting is that Atlanta is in play IF the Phoenix deal closes to keep the team in Phoenix.

That's not new, and speculation about that has been going on for months.

If there's something from a major media outlet, national or in Atlanta, that says something is happening -- or -- updates on a local buyer, we can open this again.

At the moment, the Phoenix or Winnipeg threads should suffice for these random tweets and chirps.


CLOSED.